Living a life of luxury comes at different price points depending on which part of the U.S. you’re in. The national benchmark for luxury edged down by 0.5% to $1.24 million in September, according to the Realtor.com® September 2025 Luxury Housing Report.
A luxury home looks different if it’s located in a city metro or a suburb.
“Luxury values vary widely,” explains Anthony Smith, senior economist at Realtor.com®. “A $1 million to $2 million budget yields a median 2,994 square feet nationally but over 4,500 square feet in Atlanta, versus under 1,700 square feet in urban Honolulu, underscoring sharp regional differences in what luxury dollars can purchase.”
And luxury homes usually take longer to sell than the average U.S. listing.
The number of days a luxury home spends on the market saw a one-day increase to 79 days—which is 4.5 days longer than a year ago. The typical home with a national median list price of $425,000 spent 62 days on the market—that’s a week longer than September 2024.
The most expensive metro in the U.S. is Santa Barbara-Santa Maria, CA. This area now leads all luxury markets in the country with 10% of the most expensive listings starting at $8,950,000.
“The metro also has one of the most expensive ZIP codes in the country—93110,” Smith says. “Million-dollar homes make up the majority within the area, with the share of million-dollar listings coming in at 73.4% in September.”
But $1 million can go a long way—depending on where you live.
More for your money
The median square footage for a home listed between $1 million and $2 million nationally was just under 3,000 square feet in September.
The report identifies that the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA, metro delivers the most space for the money, with a median square footage of 4,530. The homes in the 10% of the most expensive listings start at $926,711.
Next on the list is the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO, metro, where the median square footage for a $1 million to $2 million dollar home is 4,272. Now, here, the 10% of the most-expensive listings start at $1,314,406.
Rounding out the top three is the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI, metro, where the median square footage for a million-dollar home is 4,162. Homes in the 10% of the most-expensive listings start at just under $1 million—at $999,767.
“Other metros such as Denver, Minneapolis, Houston (4,112 square feet), and Dallas (4,072 square feet) also offer larger footprints for the same price point, reflecting newer construction, greater land availability, and a strong inventory of high-end suburban homes,” Smith adds.
“The Atlanta, Minneapolis, Houston, and Dallas metros also offer a lower barrier to luxury than many coastal markets, where the entry-level price for high-end homes often starts well above $2 million.”
Less for your money
On the flip side, there are many metros within the $1 million to $2 million range where you will get less square footage for your money.
Topping the list is urban Honolulu, HI, where a typical $1 million to $2 million home offers just 1,650 square feet—which is barely one-third the size of a similar priced home in Atlanta. The 10% most expensive listings start at $2,063,800.
“Other metros on this list, including San Jose, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York, reflect markets where land scarcity and location drive value,” explains Smith. “In these areas, buyers are often paying premiums for proximity, views, and prestige rather than size.”
For this report, Realtor.com economists looked at the luxury segmentation based on market-specific price percentiles, with the 90th percentile representing entry-level luxury, the 95th percentile marking high-end luxury, and the 99th percentile indicating ultraluxury. All calculations are based on listing prices, not final sales prices.
